A Lily Among Thorns
by sparklyturtle
Summary: Her entire life, Lily had been told what an amazing place Hogwarts was, hearing all the old stories and legends her family could manage to tell her. Yet, she seemed to be attending a very different school than that of the stories.
1. Chapter 1

Lily Potter tugs at the bottom of her plait as she waits to be called.

Hugo stands beside her, desperately trying to spike up his hair as he stares at all the girls around him. "None of them are my cousins, Lil," he hisses when she makes fun of him.

She had made sure to plait her hair so that it fell over her right ear, and, although she knows it is all covered, she can't help but feel nervous.

The first people called are twins, they assume. Arthur Bell goes straight into Gryffindor without any delay, but the hat seems conflicted about his brother, who eventually enters Ravenclaw.

The list of people seems to go on for _years_. She catches a few names she recognises from dad's stories, although mainly she's focusing on trying not to vomit.

She's still grabbing at the bottom of her plait when "Potter, Lily" echoes through the hall. A silence immediately falls at the mention of a Potter, and she can feel everyone's stares on her back as she makes her way up to the stool.

Luckily, it's only Neville- or Professor Longbottom, as she ought to call him now- with the Sorting Hat, so his secret smile calms her nerves slightly.

She sees Jamie and Louis sitting at the Gryffindor table; Louis looks bored, but Jamie winks at her over their cousin's head. She glances over at the Slytherin table, and, sure enough, Ru is staring right at her with that little smirk of his, just like dad, that always calms her.

Neville places the hat over her head, but it just falls over her eyes.

"I've been waiting on you."

The voice makes her jump.

"I had heard of a new Lily Potter, indeed," the hat tells her in a raspy voice. "By the looks of things, you certainly take after her."

Lily gulps. She has always hated being compared to her grandmother. The moment people heard her name, it was all talk about how wonderful and brave and smart Lily Evans had been. No one ever wanted to know Lily Molly Potter.

"You take after your father," the hat remarks. "I see great courage and strength in you. But brains to burn, if put to the right use."

She begs the hat to hurry up its decision.

"I'm thinking, child," the hat snaps. "A good heart, also. Yet I see that you're very cunning, when you want to be. I must say, though, you're much calmer than your famous father ever was."

Time seems to drag as the hat contemplates its decision.

"Mhm, that'll work," the hat mutters, before rearing back and bellowing, "RAVENCLAW!"

There's a cheer from the Ravenclaw table as Neville lifts the hat off of her head. Lily stumbles down the steps and launches herself at Victoire, who is sat at the top of the table.

Hugo ends up in Gryffindor, which surprises no one. He seems delighted, but a small part of Lily can't help but be jealous. Dad had so much pride in being a Gryffindor, and Lily knew that Uncle Ron would make a huge deal of Hugo, highlighting the fact that only Jamie got into Gryffindor.

She's not paying any attention to the gang of Slytherins staring at her as she leaves the hall until they're right beside her.

"What's that in your ear?" one of them says loudly. "Some kind of weirdo?" the blonde boy sneers. "Something wrong with you, all that stuff in your ears?"

Lily stares at him, breathing heavily as her eyes begin to fill up as she tugs her plait back into place to cover her hearing aid. Ru and Jamie are at her side in a heartbeat. "Piss off, Malfoy," Ru snaps.

"What, I'm just asking to dopey bitch a question," Malfoy laughs. "Mind your own business, Potter!"

Jamie grabs his collar, easily picking him off the ground. "One more word, Malfoy," he growls. "I swear to Merlin-"

"James Potter!" a cry comes from behind them. Ru groans loudly as Professor McGonagall pushes past him. "Put that boy down!"

"But, Professor-"

"You are _not_ going to argue this time, Potter," she snaps. "Put the boy down, and report for detention tomorrow."

"Professor, you can't do that!" Ru cries, standing beside his brother to face the older woman.

"Oh, believe me, Rubeus, I can," she says snidely. "I don't think your parents would be happy if both of you were suspended from quidditch for a month on top of getting detention, would they?"

She storms off, leaving a snarling Jamie in her wake.

"I don't care what dad says," he says. "She's a wicked cow."

They wish her goodnight, and with that, her brothers leave her, but she can hear their cries of outrage from the stairs.

Malfoy fixes his collar, staring at her as she pulls her hair back in place. He waits until he thinks everyone is gone, and then pushes her over. He smiles as she falls, landing on her elbow. He leans down and gets in her face.

"I don't care who your parents are," he whispers. "I don't give a shit who your brothers _think_ they are. And I don't care that your cousin is the head girl."

He pushes her hair out of her face, making her skin crawl as tears trickle down her cheeks.

"You're just a stupid little deaf freak."

Suddenly, Malfoy is pulled away from her. There's a smack and a cry and next thing she knows, he's curled in a ball on the floor beside her, crying as he cradles his nose.

Lily clambers to her feet, startled to realise that it's the other twin. He's slightly taller and lankier than his brother, his hair curlier.

"Don't think it'd look good for you to have been hit by a first year, would it?" he asks Malfoy. "So leave her alone, or else it won't just be your face next time, alright?"

"My father will hear about this!" Malfoy squawks as he scurries away.

The boy turns to face her, a smirk on his face. "I'm Archie Bell," he says, holding out a hand.

"Lily," she says, grinning as she shakes his hand. "Lily Potter."


	2. Chapter 2

"Who even needs a spell to make things float, though?" Matt huffed, throwing his Charms book down on the table with a groan. "Why can't I just hold it in place?"

Lily snorted, shaking her head at her friend.

"That's not how magic works, Bell," she grinned, looking at the book in front of her. "Besides, that charm makes things _fly_ , not float."

His shoulders slumped and he let out a loud sigh as he slumped back into his seat.

Matt Bell was a scrawny young boy with shaggy brown hair that fell into his eyes. He spoke with a constant sarcastic tone. He hated school and didn't seem to see the point in magic. No one really understood why he was in Ravenclaw, yet, here he was, and the Sorting Hat rarely made mistakes.

He was the best friend Lily had made since starting at Hogwarts.

"Stuff you, Potter," Matt retorted, sticking his tongue out at her.

Hogwarts, she had decided, was nothing like what her family had always described it as.

Her entire life, Lily had been told what an amazing place Hogwarts was, hearing all the old stories and legends her family could manage to tell her. Yet, she seemed to be attending a very different school than that of the stories.

Jamie had noticed how quiet she had become since starting school, although he would never say it. Yet she still saw the raised eyebrows and the worried looks and noticed how he tried to see her at least once a day.

Jamie didn't understand, though.

Jamie was _normal_.

People at Hogwarts saw one of two things; her surname or her hearing aid. They rarely saw the girl behind it all.

Jamie would _try_ to get it, she knew that, but aside from having their grandfather's name- and even then, he would never be _James_ \- her older brother would never understand what it was like.

Ru might understand, but he finally seemed to be happy with being a Slytherin, with being _himself_ , so she didn't think she could ruin that by dragging up bad memories.

 _Dad_ would understand because, out of her entire family, he was the only one who knew what it was like to have people stare at you and judge you for things beyond your own control.

Lily reached up and fiddled with the implant which curled up to sit again the side of her head. Her hair was down, covering most of her implant, but _she_ still knew it was there.

It was her own personal curse, something that attracted nothing but unwanted attention and left her feeling alone in the world.

Although, Matt was different, she had found.

It didn't seem to matter at all to him. He thought she was an alright person, and that seemed to be enough for him.

She glanced over at her friend where he sat slouched in his seat, his feet now thrown on the table and his schoolbook once more in his hands. His brow was furrowed as he glared down at the page in front of him.

She allowed herself a small smile, allowing herself to believe it could and would get better.

Surely it _had_ to get better, didn't it?


End file.
